Extended Stays at the Xavier Mansion
by NeenaD91
Summary: The Brotherhood is staying at the Xavier Mansion for awhile...a long while. Chaos? Why, that's an understatement.
1. The brotherhood of The Brotherhood

Extended Stays at the Xavier Mansion

Disclaimer: Nothing's in my name, I'm a broke student. Enjoy!

Also note that this story is a little dark, twisted and shifted. I moved things around for the sake of the story and my creative sanity (or insanity, the judge is still out on that one), and the rating is in place for a reason. If you like your X-men by the books in chronological order, this may not be the story for you. Otherwise, onward ho!

XXXXXX

For the Brotherhood, home was anywhere their bodies landed. By force, or by sheer exhaustion, what was home is what was recently or permanently abandoned until they decided, or were forced to find somewhere new.

Eric Lenshurr, leader of the pack, may have had more homes that he's had years living, but that didn't distain him from his way of life; he knew it was a sacrifice for the greater good. The mutant kind of good.

Utilities were sometimes luxuries, and sometimes they were over-exulted. Food was rare three times a day and clothes and toiletries came at the max one could steal.

This time an abandoned warehouse was their chosen place to gather; two stories of soot and dust, pushed aside to make way for a cluster of mutant bodies, and their stolen goods.

Magneto took the prior "office" and he and Mystique's bedroom, while his henchmen marked and claimed designated spaces for themselves on the sales floor and backrooms. This included his children, Scarlett and Pietro, who chose a designation, not far from their father.

The "break room" was temporarily remodeled into a kitchen thanks to Multiple man's sticky fingers, and as for the sleeping arrangements, well, there were no sleeping arrangements. Sabertooth could only carry so many mattresses and the lucky ones grabbed them first. Unfortunately, that left he and some of the other bigger fellas such as the Juggernaut on the dirty floor with only a blanket to cover up.

But despite the brutal beatings on their backs for having to sleep on a hard cement floor, after a month at the warehouse, it was beginning to feel a little bit like home. Perfectly situated in the-middle-of-nowhere-Massachusetts, the chances of someone tracking them were slim to none, and it was surprisingly easy to locate once returning from a mission.

Though ugly and unorthodox, the brotherhood liked it and they praised Magneto for providing them with a place to rest their heads; so long as that place wasn't the side of the road, or the inside of a cell.

It was a Friday night and while most adults and young adults were out celebrating the start of the weekend, most young adults weren't the brotherhood, and they didn't have to worry about whatever wanted list or Mutant hit list they were on. So for this reason, the brotherhood stayed in. In their little shack; cooped up like hens, squawking in each other's faces.

It was needless to say that tensions grew rather quickly.

"Dammit Cain, move the fuck over!" Pyro grumbled angrily as he strained his neck over the mass that was Juggernaut, to see the barely there TV. The picture was equally non-existent, and it didn't help Juggernaut took up all the space on the poor excuse for a couch, leaving no room for anyone in a three foot radius.

"It's not my fault this TV is so small." His English accent laid over thick; so did his aggravation. "Why'd you get such a lil' ass Television!"

"Next time you walk your hefty ass into the store and get it. That is if you don't brake shit first"

Across from Pyro, Spike laughed at John's insult and decided now would be a perfect time to join in. "Juggs, you need to shake some weight man. The people on the TV can't see the TV cause' you're so big"

Now Pyro laughed as the Juggernaut growled. His face was reddening fast and his aggravation was escalating quickly.

"Your mom called you hefty didn't she jugs?" Pyro asked. "Not just plain old fat?" The boys laughed again while steam blew out of Cain's ears. He was ready to flip this couch over and hurl the boys out the window.

Thankfully, intervention came just as a bunny hopped over the boy's graves.

"Shut up you two" Mystique, blue as the day she was altered, sauntered into the mock-living room and gave John a curt slap on the back of his head.

"What the fuck?"

"Shut up John. You know how Eric feels about that language"

John glared at her and grumbled a prominent "bitch", while retrieving his lighter from his pocket.

"Juggs" her attention now turned to the burly man on the couch, who blushed every time he saw the blue beauty.

"Maim" he removed his helmet and tucked it honorably by his chest in respect of the lady in front of him.

"Jugs, what'd I tell you about sitting on the couch? Or any piece of furniture not sturdy enough for you?"

Blushing with embarrassment, the Juggernaut dropped his cement helmet to the floor with dense THUD, before lowering himself to sit right next to it. The sofa sighed in relief while the wooden floors cracked and cried beneath him.

"Thank you Jugs"

"Maim" he said again. Though large and intimidating, his proper English upbringing remained intact. He always knew how to respect a lady and her authority. And Mystique was one hell of an authoritative woman.

"Leave him alone you two" she warned the others.

"Oh Jesus" Pyro retrieved a cigarette from his pocket as well and it was ignited almost instantly. "Give it a rest Raven. You almost sound like a mother"

"That's Mystique to you" she hissed dangerously. "And as far as you're concerned, I _am_ your mother"

Pyro rolled his eyes, dismissing the threat while Spike backed down and Juggernaut admired her moxy. He was smitten with her; this was no secret, but she was loyal to the one they call Magneto.

Mother of the pack and bound to the King of the Throne, Mystique is the Queen and the brotherhood is her Kingdom. They bow down to her without even realizing it sometimes and in return, she provides as much nurture and attention as she's capable of. Coming from Mystique, that was a lot of twisted and backwards nurturing but coming from the brotherhood that was just about all they needed.

In the meantime, Pyro rolled his eyes. "Whatever"

Mystique rolled her own. The others weren't so bad if she scared them enough but Pyro was near to impossible to deal with. His attitude sucked and he was still young enough to pull rank into the bratty teenager, I-know-everything phase. His defiance left her with endless frustration and relentless migraines and she promised herself she only kept at it because Magneto assured her it'd get better.

"_Don't give up on him_" he'd say. "_He's nearing his peak and he'll be most valuable to us when he does"_

What peak, she had no idea, but for her sanity she hoped he neared it soon; he was uncontrollable and it was driving her mad. Almost as mad as…..

"Hey big P" Mystique groaned. Pietro. "What are you doing handing around Big bubba and lady Godiva over here. It's Friday night, let's blow this dump."

Pyro leaned back in his chair to look over at Pietro, better known as QuickSilver, who zip lined his way over.

"Man, Spike too? What is this, Group therapy? Did I miss a memo? C'mon lets go, I could use a drink and a good fu—"

Mystique shot him one of her cold death stares and he stopped dead in his tracks.

"You and this _language_ thing." He too rolled his eyes. "Dad's a square. We're a decade into the new millennium, get over yourself already"

Pyro laughed. "Your dad Silver; certainly not mine."

"Whatever, so you and Spike down or not?"

"I don't know" Pyro blew a puff of smoke into the air. "Your sister coming?"

If Pietro's face scrunched up any further, it would form a spiraling vortex in the middle of his head. "Scarlett? Hell no man! I said a drink and a….." he eyed Mystique carefully. "…Good lay. Not a cock-blocker. Now c'mon let's go before my dad comes up with some impossible task for us to do"

Pyro laughed and rose from his chair while Spike tagged along with them.

Much like his father, Pietro Maximoff was the ring leader of the pack and the mastermind behind it all. If these three boys were in trouble, Pietro was definitely the cause of it, and often had a cop out to save their sorry asses. He's a smartass, a bully, a competitor and a show-off but if there were ever a person to keep him in line it'd be his father.

Poor old Magneto had a bit of difficultly keeping tabs on his twenty-three year old son, but he raised him with enough respect to know who he was talking too, and when to shut-up and listen. The two bantered back and forth and disagreed on just about everything a father and son could disagree on, but there was no denying the bond between Eric and Pietro was ever-lasting. Pietro would die for his father and in turn, Eric would do the same for his son.

Scarlett on the other hand, why, that's daddy's little girl. Pietro's younger-by-ten-minutes twin sister, and arch nemesis, Scarlett Wanda Maximoff, is everything Pietro's not. She's sweet, caring, humble, kind and smart, and was recruited into the brotherhood by default.

Not having the bravery to withstand the distance from her family, especially when they're repeatedly put in harm's way, Scarlett chose to remain by her father and brother's side, although it clashed heavily with her pacifist mentality. Scarlett wasn't a fighter by any means; she tries to use her powers for good and she often went into hiding when her father's missions got violent. She didn't agree with Magneto but she did love Eric with all her heart and she vowed to stick by him no matter what. Her worst fear would always be that her father would die for the cause he was fighting for and she wouldn't be around to say goodbye to him.

Eric accepted his daughters opposing views long ago, and vowed to love her no matter what, while Pietro on the other hand despised her, and blamed her for being "on their side". He was the only one who seemed to have a problem with Scarlett's way of life. Everyone else in the brotherhood backed off, knowing it was Magneto's daughter and he'd probably kill them for mocking her. Pietro wished his father would just dump her at some world peace organization so they could get back to business, but Eric was having none of it. He loved his children, despite how heavily they clashed, and he'd see to it that he supported them no matter what.

While Pietro was the boiling hot head, Scarlett took rank as daddy's little princess and Eric gave into just about whatever she wanted as it was so easy to woo him with those big, puppy dog eyes of hers. She looked just like her mother. He would gladly lay out in the middle of the road, and be pelted by assault rifles while an eighteen-wheeler rolled over his body before he let a soul lay a finger on her. And he'd be damned if the whole-world didn't know about it.

Eric's one Achilles heel, if any, is his daughter Scarlett.

"Pietro?" Silver cringed as he heard him speak before he saw him. Speak of the devil. Dammit and they were just on their way out the door too. Why'd he have to join in at the most inopportune moments. "Pietro?"

"Yeah dad I'm here"

He came out of the shadows it seemed, and stepped into the light revealing himself in more casual attire, versus his usual suited wear and cape. Slacks and a black dress shirt seemed to work just fine for Magneto while he was lounging around, and as for his side-kick, well, Burberry and Armani was more his taste.

While mystique was his right arm, his now clean-cut sidekick, Sabertooth, served as his left. Still as animalistic as the day he was born, he sure as hell didn't look the part anymore, as he ditched his long locks and disorderly eyebrows for a smooth cut and crisp clothes.

The animal, who actually turned out to be quite the financial advisor, made millions investing in stocks and bonds, schmoozing on wall street and seeing to it that wealthy scientists were comfortably piss-ass drunk in his New York penthouse.

At his lowest of lows, Eric took Sabertooth in and let him release the beat inside him, serving as muscle and a ruthless hit man for what he liked to call his "angry years". Once that part of his life was over, he cleaned up his act and got back on Wall Street, buying, selling, trading, investing and taking down companies like a shark.

Still, no matter how aggressive he was at his career, nothing but being a part of the Brotherhood could satisfy the beast that raged within him, and he hung around Eric for periods of time, for the hunt, the kill, the blood that his body craved.

Pietro didn't like it. Or more so he didn't like the amount of time he spent around his father. Eric trusted the Sabertooth not only to kill, but to map and plan a future for his finances, a future for his children and for the Brotherhood. He trusted him with a bit too much if Pietro was being honest and if the insecure side of him could talk it would say that truthfully, he's a little peeved that Eric chose to take his word, over his son's.

Though the Sabertooth did have years of experience that matched both Pietro's and Eric's, it seemed as though while the Sabertooth served his time under Magneto's wing, the leader of the brotherhood was grooming him to one day take over. And that spot was already reserved for the Prince of the palace; Pietro.

"Pietro" Magneto asked. "What are you up to this time? Didn't I ask you to—"

"Did it"

"And you—"

"Got it"

"And what about—"

"All taken care of" Pietro smirked one of his Ha-take-that, kind of smirks, while handing his father a folded up piece of paper from his back pocket.

Sabertooth, snorted in annoyance from the mouthy kid and Pietro glared. Now was not the time to get into it with the seven foot animal; he'd save his energy for something more useful. Like girls.

Magneto sighed wearily and shot the same look of annoyance toward his son before snatching the paper from him. He unfolded it and grazed it over to make sure it was exactly what he asked for.

"Alright, so what is it this time?" he asked, placing the paper in his pocket now. "Should I expect to find anymore incinerated laboratories at sunrise?"

"I'm not the fire-starter dad, John is."

Pyro glared at the back of Pietro's head while he lit another cigarette. "Snitch" he grumbled.

"Plus, that was by pure accident. How were we supposed to know there were biochemical hazards behind that building?"

"Flammable biohazards" Eric said dryly. "Who would have guessed?"

Pietro rolled his eyes. "Dad, if you're gonna hold all this resentful personal vendetta towards me, then when you're on your death bed, you'll feel pretty damn guilty about it. And who knows, I may not even show up to caress your little balding head when you do"

It was hard not to snort a chuckle when Pietro was being a smartass. John and Spike did their best to hold it in.

"Do as you please Pietro, but if you get arrested, I'm not bailing you out…again."

"That was two times." He said exasperatedly. "Let it go already"

"Nor will I pay for anymore emergency room visits, and I will not tolerate strange women in this house either"

"You call this rat hole a house?"

"Pietro Eric Maximoff"

That was his first warning but Silver didn't think it was serious enough to require the use of his middle name. That was for more serious offensives; like burning down the San Francisco laboratory.

Regardless of his father's tone, Pietro waved him off. "Yeah, yeah, whatever old man. We're off."

About to turn and leave, he was just about to round up his boys when his father stopped him yet again.

"Where's Scarlett?"

"I don't know" Internally, Silver cringed. He knew just where this was going. Maybe if he brushed her off, his father would let it go.

"She's not going with you?"

Silver groaned. "No dad" he whined, almost as if he was a child again. "She's a buzz kill and this is a boy's night out. I'm tired of staying in this dump; we don't need the trash following us around."

Magneto's look hardened. Pietro knew he touched once of his sensitive spots. That's exactly what he was aiming for.

"Watch your mouth Silver"

His smirk glistened and he stared down his father, challenging his anger. Whenever he needed Magneto to back down, he took to using his sister as bait. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it earned him a left hook to the jaw, but Silver knew Eric would always choose to protect his daughter himself rather than riling on Silver and his buddies to do it instead, so this time, mistreating Scarlett worked out perfectly.

"Whatever, keep your precious Princess in her castle. We're out dad, don't wait up."

With that he and his own little motley crew rolled out, leaving Eric to live with the headache he left behind.

"With all due respect Eric," Juggernaut began. He was still sitting on the floor and had heard the entire exchange. "I know you love your children but, I'm never having kids"

Mystique chuckled while Eric heaved a sigh. "If you'd like to keep your brain attached to its stem, I suggest you don't."

XXXXXX

She sat on her mattress, Indian-style and read.

Not a calming behavior people who knew her would expect, but she actually enjoyed a good book from time to time. And not a raunchy, near-pornographic novel, but an actual book. Typically award winning books, books about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and all that.

She read them to get lost in them, to wonder what a normal person's life was all about. To learn what normal people went through, and sometimes, to wonder what her life would be like if she were normal. If she weren't in the brotherhood; if she weren't a mutant.

She often snorted ridiculously when she got too absorbed in her own thoughts after a good read. Sure being human and paying taxes sounded great and all but she liked having the freedom to run wild. Do what she wanted when she wanted. Answer to no one and fight for the plight of her oppressed people. She liked having her powers and the ability to sense a predator millions of miles away, then reach him in twenty-seconds flat and rip his gut from his nostrils.

Even if all that was about to change very soon, she wouldn't wish to be by-the-book normal in a lifetime.

Looking towards the door, Anya Villalobos, or Callisto as she preferred to be called, put down her book and awaited her visitor's knock.

_Knock, Knock, Knock_

Right on time.

"Come in" she said as she marked the page of the novel and turned her attention to the door.

Just who she expected. Her long-time boyfriend, James Madrox, or Multiple man, accompanied by rippling abs that were glistening from a fresh sheen of sweat, a plate of pizza's stacked high on top of each other, and a six pack to wash down after each slice.

"I've got a gift for you" James said in a sing-songy voice and she giggled awaiting him or the pizza rather, to take a seat next to her.

"Oh joy, delicious pizza and nothing for me to wash it down with" She stared at the six-pack with dire want, but decided against it with her better judgment.

"Don't worry, I've got it covered babe"

No more than two seconds later, a clone of Multiple Man, appeared into the room with a tall order of Cola in his hands and handed it to a grateful Callisto, before winking at her and phasing back into James's body.

James smirked, kissing the top of her forehead and diving in for the first slice of pizza.

"I swear, Victor could buy all the damn pizzeria's in the tri-state area if he wanted. There has to be about forty boxes down there"

"Well we do have to feed jugs…"She bit into her first bite.

"True, but again, all the pizzerias', tri-state area, we'd be set for life 'Lis"

She giggled. "I don't get it, if he's so rich, why does he hang around here?"

"Someone's gotta hold Magneto's balls while Mystique wipes."

Callisto nearly blew soda from her nose.

"Ha! Stop it James, these walls are paper thin"

James smirked. "I don't know but in the meantime, free pizza is free pizza. Mags should really consider putting Victor in charge of a meal plan or something. Ramen noodles and frozen dinners aren't exactly cutting it."

"You're telling me; I haven't eaten since breakfast, I'm starving."

His lightheartedness quietly shifted into a concern when James checked his watch. It was 10:30 at night. Breakfast was over twelve hours ago.

"'Lis, you haven't eaten anything since breakfast?"

Callisto peeked over the top of her pizza to stare at him. There goes that look, again. God how she loved her boyfriend but she hated that look. That, I'm-so-worried-about-you-and-probably-won't-sleep-tonight-after-what-you-just-told-me look. She could tell him that she tripped and stubbed her toe and he'd give her that look. It was a little bothersome at times.

"James," she started.

"No, finish this 'Lis, I'll get more slices" A clone separated from his body and made its way out the door before she could protest.

"No wait" she tried calling after the clone but he was already gone. "James that really isn't necessary, there's six slices here, there's no way I can finish this by myself"

"You need to eat and keep your strength up"

"I am eating" she demonstrated by taking another bite of the pizza. "And I'm fine"

"But what about…." He made a reach for her waist and she brushed his hand away, looking him in the eyes.

"I'm fine"

James sighed and the clone re-entered the room, sans additional pizza, and phased back into his body. He scrunched up his face for a moment in thought, before assuming his favorite cuddling position with her. He lay flat on his chiseled abs between her candy-caramel thighs and rested his head gently atop her belly.

Gently lifting her baggy gray sweat-top, James ran his hand atop her smooth skin, then kissed the small protruding bump that wiggled beneath with life from his warm touch.

He kissed her belly again and looked up and the woman he adored who forced on a smile for him.

"Please take care of yourself 'Lis, and our little man. You two are all I've got"

She forced the tears to remain at bay and nodded gently, caressing the side of James's cheek with her hand.

"What makes you think it's a boy?" she tried to lighten the mood while he grinned at her lowering her sweat top.

"Well what else would it be?"

A retort look, courtesy of Callisto was his response. "I don't know, the cookie monster. What do you think you ass?"

James laughed. "You think it's a girl?"

"I don't know, I guess we'll find out soon enough"

"How many more weeks to go?"

Callisto groaned. "Ugnuhhh, way too many. It feels like it's been a lot longer than 14 weeks."

James shrugged. "I'm sure you won't be saying that when it's time to P-U-S-H"

She smirked sarcastically in his direction. "Oh how lucky you are to have a P-E-N-I-S" he only laughed.

Continuing to eat, and use her small belly as a resting spot for his plate, Callisto suddenly found herself with a loss of appetite, and looked down at the belly housing the growing life within her.

She still remembers the day she first found out she was pregnant. She assumed she was by herself, the rest of the team went out on a mission and Scarlett went to run a few errands. Callisto requested to stay behind, claiming to fall ill to a stomach virus, and Magneto brushed it off without a second thought, giving her plenty of time to act.

When she was sure everyone was gone she dashed under her mattress where she kept a box of tests she bought the day prior and ran to the bathroom, peeing hard and fast onto both sticks at the same time. She was so nervous she almost forgot to take the wrappers off.

While she paced the bathroom anxiously for the next thirteen minutes, James had come home early, looking for her, and found her and the results on the bathroom counter, awaiting his arrival.

It was the first thing he saw when he opened the door and while he, was ecstatic as ever and made ten clones of himself to encase her in a group hug, she, broke down in tears.

Her life from this point on, was over.

Callisto was nothing short of homeless before she met Eric. She bounced her way from street to street, alley to alley, gang to gang, and occasionally, shelter to shelter until that fateful meeting came. She joined his crew without a second thought.

Eric was a quick mover and rash thinker, their line of work in the Brotherhood called for it. To be in, you had to be able to keep up and become quick and light on your toes. There was no such thing as a no-mutant-left-behind policy. If your brother has fallen and he can't keep up with the pack, then he's out.

That's how she's seen so many mutants come and go in the past few years. The Brotherhood was no place for the weak.

Now that she was pregnant she knew she was next on the chopping block. Right now they resided in an abandoned warehouse. There was no room for a nursery, bottles, toys, or more importantly, the actual baby. A child would never be safe in these conditions, it would never be stable in this life style. Social Services would probably win a Nobel Prize as soon as they got the chance to hunt Callisto down and rip her baby from her arms.

She was still unsure of what she'd do once she got further along in her pregnancy and closer to giving birth. Three-week hikes to a new home weren't exactly suitable for a lady in her third-trimester and a large protruding belly made her an easy target for their enemies.

James assured her everything would be ok, that he would take care of both she and the baby, forever, but she didn't know how he could.

One of them, both of them, if not all three of them, had to leave the Brotherhood if they wanted this to work. And she wasn't sure if that was a commitment she as willing to make yet.

"Hey, c'mon 'Lis" James nudged her side when she stopped eating. "Time to feed the baby machine. What's the matter?"

She smiled softly at him and ran a hand over his short-buzzed hair.

"Nothing" she said and forced a bite of pizza in her mouth.

He knew exactly what was the matter. It was all the matter since those two blue lines appeared on her pregnancy tests.

"He, c'mon 'Lis, it's gonna be fine. I'm going to take care of you, I promise"

Callisto set her pizza down and started at her tummy. She wanted to glare at it for getting increasingly larger and baby-belly like. It was soon going to be hard to hide it from the others.

"It's still not too late you know" It almost sounded like she wasn't speaking to him. Her voice was soft and distant but James still hung his head low when she said it. "No one knows but me and you and they wouldn't even know I'm gone for the day. It only takes like twenty minutes, we could—"

"That's not what you want Anya" he used her real name this time and it caused a single tear to slide down her cheek. Or maybe that was her rash thinking.

"I know it's not what I want" she sniffed. "But it might be what's best"

"It's not" James kissed her hand. "What's best is me taking care of you and this family. I'll never let you or the baby get hurt. Don't you worry, everything will turn out just fine."

"How do you know that? Eric will…"

"Eric is not the boss of you, nor me. And this is not his baby. _We_ decide what's best for _us_. All three of us. And abortion is not the answer."

Callisto nodded as he slid further up the bed to pull her in his arms. He kissed her atop her forehead before resting next to her nuzzling her close.

Callisto new abortion wasn't the answer but she wasn't sure motherhood in the brotherhood was the answer either.

XXXXXXX

Sitting by her lonesome, she stared at the pizza in front of her, waiting for it to get cold so she could throw it out the window.

She wasn't hungry but he forced her to eat; he forced her to do everything. When he wanted, how he wanted and without so much as a grunt of an explanation.

Maybe if the pizza got cold it would lose its scent and he'd never find it on the ground below.

She wouldn't get the chance to find out however, as he entered her room (or more like her designated space in the warehouse) at that very moment, and found her just exactly as he left her. Balled up with her knees tucked under her chin on the mattress, staring at the plate of pizza.

"You still haven't eaten yet kitten?" he asked and unloosened his tie as he approached. "I thought I told you to finish everything before I came back"

The young woman looked up at him with heavy dark black orbs, mulled over with the lack of willingness to reply.

He stalked her like a predator on its pray until he finally reached her mattress, lowering himself on it and next to her, then finally wrapping his arms tightly around her waist.

It was almost effortless to pull her slim frame into his lap.

"Elizabeth," he whispered into her, grabbing her neck and nipping along the side of her jaw. His claws sheathed slowly from his fingers and he used them to trace lines down her chest. "I want you in my bed tonight" he whispered again and bit her ear when he was finished.

He bit her too hard as usual and she already knew where to expect the next bruise.

"But not until you finish eating" he cautioned. "You need energy to be able to keep up with me darlin'"

His smirk grew as her frown deepened and she tried to push him away from her. The softness of her long dark hair spilling onto his shoulders, combined with the rapid pulsating of her heart that reeked of fear only egged him on. He liked playing this game with her.

"Eat Elizabeth" he commanded. "I want you now"

She pulled harder and he grabbed her firmly in place, forcing her hips to grind against his. He groaned from the pleasure and she whimpered trying to get away from him.

"Fine, have it your way. Don't eat. I'll still get what I want."

When his hands followed the familiar trail up her blouse a sudden surge of horrific, gored photographs, flashed rapidly in his head. They were all of her, bruised, beaten, and lifeless, and they were followed by images of him, smirking, laughing, and crying all at once when blood dripped from his pointed claws. It was quick; only lasting a few seconds, but long enough for him to get the full effect of each of them, and read her message loud and clear.

Slowly, he was killing her inside.

He grabbed her by her hair swiftly and pulled back hard; The images stopped as soon as they appeared. "Stop it Psylocke" he commanded. "You know better than to pull that stupid shit"

She gasped as he bit her neck, hard, and she twisted her mouth with pain.

"You're _mine_" he growled a feral growl. "Forever"

She whimpered and he lapped up the blood from the bite and worked his way up her neck. "Telepathy and fucking made up visions can't help you, so cut the shit." He kissed her hard on the mouth this time and she refused to kiss back. "In a few weeks, you'll be Mrs. Creed" he lifted her hand to kiss the platinum engagement band on her ring finger and bared his fangs before he did so.

"Better start acting like it"

XXXXXXXXX

"Now this is more like it"

Leaning back in his chair, Silver smirked as he placed his hands behind his head and watched voluptuous girls in scantily tatters for clothing saunter by.

"Need anything boys?" Another girl with squares and glitter for clothing approached the table where the three boys were seated and leaned over Spike from behind, rubbing her hands down his chest.

Silver smirked while Spike struggled to catch his breath. Out of the three of them, Spike was the most shy. If he got too excited his spikes would extract and he might kill the girl.

"A round of beers would be nice" Pietro answered for them all and the busty blond, smiled slowly at him, her nipples almost bursting out of the squares covering them.

"Coming right up" she said with a smirk, tapping Silver's chin before sauntering away.

"Oh man…."Spike began. He was breathing slowly, trying to get his mutation under control. The raised goose bumps on his skin showed how great of a job he was doing.

"You ok man?" Pyro asked, flipping his shark Zippo open and shut.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Spike said, half distracted as tall brunette winked as she passed by him. "Just reaalllly glad we came out tonight"

Pietro laughed as their beers were served. "You're telling me. No fucking father and his fucking shit. No bitchy Mystique and all her rules, and no moron-peace-loving, I-kiss-fucking-rainbows sister."

Pyro started on his beer and smirked. As the words left Silver's mouth, a particular girl in black caught his attention. This one short, not so busty and clothed, dancing her ass off as dark red streaks swooshed back and forth through the bottom of her onyx black hair.

"I wouldn't speak so fast if I were you" John cautioned, sipping his beer again.

Pietro was just about to drink from his own until he followed John's trail of vision. First shooting his comrade a raised eyebrow, he quickly turned behind him to see what drew John's attention and frowned, hard, when he was met with harsh reality.

His father warned him about speaking too soon.

There, in the middle of the dance floor, with a skin-tight red dress and 5-inch leopard heels on, was Pietro's twin sister, Scarlett Wanda Maximoff, bouncing around and shaking her toosh like the world was watching her.

Pietro was instantly lit with fury. "No fuckin….." he was up from the table and in front of her before he could finish the remark and when Scarlett caught wind of the WHOOSH that was her much taller twin brother, she immediately frowned.

Her dancing brought to a halt, Scarlett crossed her arms over her chest and huffed.

"You've got to be kidding me" they simultaneously spoke to one another which caused more anger and Pietro ran a hand through his dazzling silver hair in frustration.

"'The fuck are you doing here Scarlett?" he asked and she glared at him for speaking to her like a child.

"Dancing" she replied as if it was nothing. "What are you doing here?"

"None of your business. Go home you baby" he ordered and her dark raven eyes almost ignited with fire.

"Don't call me a baby Silver, we're the same age. I can stay if I want to I'm—"

"Hey Scarlett, babe, I got us some drinks"

The twins were joined by a third party, this fellow tall, dark, and handsome, with a stance that read military, and a face that chiseled into a friendly sex-appeal.

"Who the fuck is this?" Silver demanded to know and Scarlett rolled her eyes. If there was one thing she knew about her brother it was that he was relentless and for the sake of her evening she figured she might as well give in as opposed to putting up a fight. At least it wasn't her father who found her here.

"Silver," Scarlett yelled over the music, holding her brother by the arm to keep him from doing anything drastic. "This is my _date_, Adam. Adam, unfortunately this is my waste of human space brother, Pietro"

The two men looked each other up and down and while Adam tried to smile as friendly as he could, Pietro looked like he was ready to throw down. Who the hell did this guy think he was, hanging around his ten-minute-younger baby sister?

"Hi, it's nice to meet you" Adam was trying far too hard to be nice and Silver wasn't buying it. "Scarlett's told me a lot about you"

Like hell she did. He co-ran an underground mutant activist group with his father, it was highly doubted that Scarlett was yammering off about he and his family to this giant stranger.

Forgoing a response, Silver looked directly into the two drinks Adam was holding and one, fizzing far more than the other, gave him all he needed to know about Adam; and his sister. The two of them, were dopes.

"I'm over this" he said aloud. "Let's go Scarlett"

Pietro grabbed her by the arm and began to pull her away, but she protested, strongly, and ripped her arm away from him, but not before shooting him an unbelievable look.

"No! I'm staying here. Cut it out Pietro! Go hang out with your friends, I'm here with Adam, leave us alone"

"Fuck that, let's go Scarlett" he said, more sternly this time but she refused again, this time stepping back from him.

"Look, man," Adam tried. He was really barking up the wrong tree. Silver was in no mood as of five seconds ago and his patience didn't last very long past that. "I don't mean any trouble. Me and Scarlett are just having a good time"

"Really?" he asked, taking the sizzling drink from Adam's hand. "Having a good time with this" he retorted, showing both he and Scarlett the un-dissolved pill at the bottom.

When Scarlett got a look, her face was indescribable. Pissed and embarrassed would be two adjectives to try and decipher her mood; but those scraped the surface of just believing her very two eyes. She wanted to throw that drink in his face.

"Go ahead," Silver went on. "Drink it!"

Fortunately for Scarlett, Silver beat her too it and flung the alcohol right at Adam which took a millisecond to transpire a right hook towards the offender. Silver was too quick, even for the experienced solider, and it took a trillisecond before he was behind him with a punch to the back of the head, and another millisecond before the seven foot beast was toppling forward, headed right for Pietro's baby sister.

She saved herself in the nick of time, with a purple energy bubble strong enough to bounce the beast away from her and into the back wall, which is exactly what happened.

Two more milliseconds, and the entire club froze and their attention was directed to the mutant twins on the dance floor.

"C'mon…"Pyro groaned miserably from the table. He couldn't believe they'd been here only ten minutes and already had to split.

"Let's get out of here" Silver said, one last time, and dragged his baby sister, and his two friends out the club.

XXXXXXXXX

"You know," Spike began as the four of them hiked the city streets back to their dump of a home. "It would be nice to actually get laid, when we set out to get laid Silver" he said, and pulled tighter on his leather jacket. The streets freshly licked with rain, it was a little nippy out.

Silver in the meantime, grimaced and snarled down at his twin sister. She was quiet on the hike back home and kept her eyes low to the floor. She couldn't believe she almost fell for it; that guy could have full on raped her if her brother didn't come along. And it pained her that he had that hanging over her head. As much as he despised her, he was always there to save her ass.

"Shut up Spike" Pietro snapped and pulled out a folded leather wallet from his back pocket, opening it up as he walked.

"What's that?" Pyro asked, while removing his jacket and placing it around Scarlett's bare shoulders. Her mini-dress did little to protect her from the cold and being that his body temperature was naturally a few degrees warmer, he really had no use for it.

Scarlett smiled warmly at him. "Thanks John"

"It's a wallet dumbass" Pietro retorted sarcastically, going through its contents and scattering useless materials from it onto the wet ground. "I swiped it from that asshole before I decked him"

"Nice" Spike complimented. "Any cash?"

"About fifty bucks, no one ever keeps cash anymore" Silver withdrew the money and pocketed it, while digging through more crap in his victims wallet like credit cards, military ID's and photographs. He was tempted to take the credit cards too but with a man like his father around, the magnetic strip lost its gusto faster than he could circle the Earth. And they were trained to keep a low-profile. Credit card records were out of the question.

He soon came across a folded piece of paper and withdrew that too before dumping the wallet, opening it up with eyes full of curiosity. It was good to know what the feds were up to from time to time, even if it came from someone at the bottom of the food chain.

When Pietro finally recognized what the government sealed order was, he stopped in his tracks and lost his breath, just for a second. And when the others realized he stopped, they stopped too.

"What?" Pyro asked. "What is it man?"

There in the top left corner, was his father's picture. Next to Mystiques', next to his and next to the Juggernaut's. All with a wanted order, slapped across their faces and all with a mission for take down, scheduled for what looked like todays date, at their current, shit hole address.

"How'd they get….."

"Whoa" Spike breathed. He loomed over his comrade's shoulder, and couldn't believe his eyes either. "We picked a bad night to go out man"

"Shut the fuck up Spike." Silver ordered. He balled up the piece of paper and threw it to the floor. "We need to go…now!"

XXXXXXXXXX

Starting off with a shit-hole to call home, they ended up with nothing.

The Brotherhood, back to square one; homeless, hurt and hungry, watching the feds raid their latest hideout and torch it to soot, while they stood miles away, nursing their wounds and regrouping.

The quad of teenagers made it home just in time to catch the feds bombing the shack out with flash grenades and tear gas. The cure lodged ready and willing in their plastic guns, Silver made sure to collect them all in a hasty trip around the squad, before throwing them in the air for pyro to torch them all.

That's when all the chaos started.

Awoken from his sleep, Magneto lashed out with jagged daggers of metal hurled for the take down group, while the Juggernaut wreaked havoc on those brave enough to enter the fortress.

Forced to take serious action, the take down team responded with assault rifles and back up soldiers, while the rest of the Brotherhood clan made their escape out the back.

Magneto took care of the machinery as best he could, but he was tired and weak, and Silver forced him out to join the rest of the group, while Pyro took care of any lingering evidence.

A few explosions later, their run down ware house was now totaled, and the soldiers searched for their escaped targets on the ground below, while the Brotherhood watched from atop a hilltop a bit of miles away, and thought of their next route of action.

"Now what?" Multiple Man asked sarcastically, his voice laced with frustration.

"We find a new place to stay" Mystique answered, her tone as obvious as the full moon in the sky, and she turned awaiting Multiple's smartass reply.

Of course he had one.

"Gee if it were only so easy Raven" he snapped and she stood coolly next to Magneto, rolling her eyes. "We can't keep doing this you know. Our time keeps getting shorter and shorter. We've only been in this place a month"

"How'd they find us?" Callisto asked. "I don't get it; I thought everyone was treading softly"

"Yeah well maybe if Jug's big ass didn't stomp around like a gorilla everywhere, we'd be a little less obvious" Pyro poked. The Juggernaut flared with anger at the young boy and Pyro pulled a cigarette from his pocket. "'the fuck are you staring at you big animal?"

"Stop it boys" Mystique warned.

"Mystique if you don't tell this littl' rugrat to stop messin around, I'm gonna—"

"Enough!" Magneto spoke finally and settled all pending arguments. "Enough accusations, enough of your mindless chatter and enough complaining" he ordered. "We're going to do what we always do. We're going to find a new place to stay and we're going to do _better_ a keeping a low profile." Eric directed that last comment exactly toward his son. If he knew Pietro and his tendencies to find trouble, he had a hunch this one was on him.

The government doesn't exactly forget a masked silver stranger, breaking into a prison and freeing all the mutant inmates. He's quick, but he is traceable.

"What, you think this is _my_ fault?" Pietro was quickly on the defense.

"We'll talk about this later Pietro" his tone was deep and serious; Pietro knew he was in deep shit. Just fucking great.

"Well where do we go?" James asked. He was more concerned with finding a place to rest. They couldn't hike all night, especially with his girlfriends' condition.

"Don't you have a place Vic?" the Juggernaut asked. "No idea why we're livin' in the slums if Vic's got a penthouse up in the city."

Victor scoffed and smirked, baring his teeth. "Yeah I do but it's not for you dweebs. We just got busted not more than five minutes ago you big moron. Fuckin' Reed Richards and Susan Storm live in my damn building. You think the paparazzi's not gonna catch a glimpse of your wanted asses?"

The Juggernaut seethed again. "Watch it" he growled.

Victor growled right back.

"Enough you two" Magneto commanded again.

He was weighing his options and they didn't look good. James was right; their catch time was getting shorter and shorter. It'd only be a matter of time before one of them slipped and they'd be shot with the cure.

Magneto was doing his best to keep the Brotherhood safe but without a roof over their heads, covering the basic's wasn't particularly easy. There was always one last resort but Eric decided to keep the retreat with his tail between his legs for a dire necessity. It was bad but it wasn't that bad. He's been through worse.

"We'll find a new place to stay," he said. "Somewhere more secluded." Magneto turned to walk back down the hill, leading his group but for some, that didn't seem like an acceptable answer.

"Where?" James asked breathlessly and Eric shot him a warning glare.

"I don't have time for mindless worry James, let's go"

"Eric—" James held onto his delicate girlfriend, ready to blurt out the nights next surprise but Callisto quickly stopped him.

"James, cool it. I'm fine" she whispered harshly.

"No, Anya, you can't—"

"I'm fine James" she said, placing a reassuring hand over his worried one and looking him in the eyes. "Let's go"

He sighed a restless sigh and gave in, deciding to play along before another member of the Brotherhood interrupted with a tumble to the ground.

She thought she could hold it in but she couldn't anymore; the pain was just too unbearable.

"Daddy," she whimpered helplessly, hunched over on her knees as she gripped her stomach in pain.

Hearing his name in a tone that was a father's worst nightmare, Eric turned around and feared the worst, his heart skipping a beat when his fear unfolded in front of his eyes.

Scarlett was injured.

She removed one of her hands from her abdomen only to find blood, and looked up at her father with pain and embarrassment, from her open wound.

"Scarlett" Eric was at her side faster than Silver could ever be.

Her face crumpled with agony, and she leaned her head on his shoulder. "Daddy, I think I was hit"

Eric could feel the metal bullet beneath her skin and it made his blood boil and his heart sink, and very quickly; he was beginning to panic.

Someone hurt his baby girl; someone touched his Scarlett. He couldn't believe he hadn't noticed this before. He wanted blood to pour out the gaping hold he'd create on whoever decided it'd be ok to do this. Who hurt his Scarlett? Who hurt his Scarlett and _got away_ with it. The left over metal from the burnt shack below shook beneath them.

"Eric," Mystique began, this time with an actual tone of concern and Eric looked down at his daughter as she bled out in front of him.

It would be easy to pull the bullet out from within her, but difficult to fix the damages there after. He wasn't a doctor; none of them where.

Magneto was beginning to panic while Scarlett sniffled and moaned in pain, and a trickle of her tears, dropped on his hand.

This old dog, was beginning to retreat.

_"Charles?"_ he asked. In his mind he felt stupid for calling out into the open abyss of his brain, but he knew his good friend was listening. Even in his sleep he was always listening. _"Charles can you hear me?" _

_ "Yes I can here you Eric."_ His voice was gentle even though Eric knew he was annoyed for waking him out of his sleep. "_Your commotion has kept me up for quite some time now"_

_ "Charles it pains me to say this but…..I need help."_ Even in his mind it was hard to say. _"Scarlett, she needs help"_

"Dad" Silver called. He was just sitting there, blank look on his face, while Scarlet led a trail of blood down the hill. "Dad let's go"

"_Is she hurt?"_

_ "Charles please, I need_—_"_

_ "There's no need to explain Eric. You may bring your team here. I'll have Hank and Jean meet you in the hangar" _

_ "Is there enough time?" _

_ "She'll be fine, just keep her calm. From the angle she was hit, it looks like a flesh wound" _

_ "Charles I_—_"_

_ "It's alright Eric. I've told you before, whenever you're ready, you're always welcome back." _

XXXXXXXXXXX

Whelp, how do you like it?

Review!


	2. Day One

Extended Stays at the Xavier Mansion ch 2

Paying a lot of attention to my neglected work these days! Hope you like. Review at the end please!

XXXXXXX

Pretending to be asleep, Jean pulled the covers over her head, hoping he wouldn't find her. She knew it was silly, but she always felt like a child when she eavesdropped and caught a hint at something big. The Professor always told her and the team important matters in due time but there were just some things a girl couldn't help but overhear. And it was those same things; that kept telepaths like her and the Professor rolling around in bed at night as opposed to getting much needed rest.

_"Jean,"_ the professor interrupted her tormented silence.

_"Can't sleep either professor?"_

_ "Jean, I've known you for many years now, and I know good and well when you're awake and meditating or awake and searching the mansion for intel."_

A blush settled on the red-head's cheeks. _"Sorry professor" _

_ "It's quite alright; I need you and Hank in the med-lab as soon as you get the chance. Eric isn't too far away from the mansion."_

It was mind boggling to hear him say that. For many years, the professor has made successful efforts to keep the students out of harm's way and now he was leading the panther to its prey.

_"Professor are you sure you want to do this?"_

_ "Jean, Eric needs help, his daughter is injured. We aren't to turn away a mutant in need are we?" _

_ "His daughter no, but this is Eric we're talking about here professor. We have no idea what's up his sleeve" _

_ "Everything will be fine. My first priority is taking care of Scarlett and making sure she's alright. Then I'll speak to Eric and we'll go from there"_

_ "And you're sure you want to go through with this professor?" _

_ "Jean you know me not to act without certainty. Despite all things, Eric is my friend, I've promised to always be there for him when he needs me." _

Jean sighed a heavy sigh. _"Alright,"_ she said. _"I'll go get Hank"_. Pushing back her covers and rolling out of bed, Jean was quiet not to disturb Scott as she made her way to her closet. Peaking at the alarm on the nightstand the telepath shook her head again and sighed, knowing good and well what kind of day it was going to be. "_Two-twenty am; hell begins"_

XXXXXXXX

"Dear heavens, you know for once I wish crises would happen around the decency of ten am. It's humanly impossible to be functional for work at this hour of the morning"

Jean smiled as she laid warm sheets over the patient bed.

"Glad those residency years are over, aren't you?"

"I've never been happier"

Rounding up the sleeping giant was no easy task; if there was one sure fire way to poke the beast, it was waking him from his slumber. Especially as he lay next to his weather goddess; Storm was no better when it came to stirrings in the middle of the night either.

But duty called and it was down to the med bay for Hank and Jean, prepping the patient area as they waited for Magneto to arrive.

Arranging a variety of medical tools on a tray next to the bed, Jean heaved a sigh and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

Hank opened a pack of fresh medical scissors. "You don't seem too optimistic about this either Jean" he noted. "Is it the unpleasant hour or the circumstance in which we're treating…."

"The devil's daughter?" Jean finished for him and Hank shook his head.

"Now, now, you know yourself how rash uniformed judgments can be; we don't know this girl, and she needs our help."

"She's Magneto's blood Hank, his flesh and blood. How _good_ could she possibly be?"

"How much alike are you and your parents?"

Jean paused, remembering clearly how quick here parents were to ship her off to Xavier's. Never mind the futile attempts at psycho-therapy, ancient remedies for a cure, and days upon days locked up in the attic until she _"stopped doing that"_. She vowed never to be like them; ever.

"Well," she fumbled for a minute, and then got right back on track. "What about Magneto being on school grounds? I mean, the whole idea makes me nervous. And it's not just him we're talking about, it's the entire Brotherhood"

"I'm sure the professor wouldn't let them into the school if he wasn't sure everything is going to be alright"

"Yes Hank, I wouldn't"

The professor, still clad in his pajamas and a dark brown robe, wheeled into the room drawing Hank and Jean to a pause.

Jean sighed; guilty she'd been caught a second time of childish behavior.

"Professor,"

"Jean, it's quite alright. I understand your apprehension and considering Eric's history, I think it's quite excusable."

"So why are we doing this? I don't understand"

"Jean, Scarlett doesn't deserve to suffer because of her father's plight. Eric's team was just infiltrated unexpectedly and they have nowhere to go; the raid puts them fresh on the wanted list right now; he needs help"

"And there's nowhere else? No mutant refugee camp, No emergency clinic, none of our outside connections that will take care of her?"

"I've promised Eric long ago Jean that if he ever needed it, the doors are always open here. I meant what I said when I told it to him"

Jean sighed again. There was no reasoning with the professor; his mind was already made up. But she knew that there was more to this than what was on the surface. If they had a dollar for the number of times Eric or one of his men were injured on the field, they'd probably have paid tuitions to a private institution for every student at this school. What made this injury so important that Scarlett had to come _here_, was just the beginning of something more to come.

She heard Eric in the professor's head, she heard the desperation in his voice. They had nowhere to go and his daughter was hurt. Eric and his team are sitting ducks right now. Sitting ducks she's afraid are about to adopt a new lake.

"So we just fix her up and she's out of here right? Twelve hours max?"

"We'll give her medical attention, and I'll talk to Eric. But I can assure you Jean, there's nothing to worry about."

XXXXXX

"A meeting in the hangar, this is odd."

"No shit Sherlock. Thanks again for proving yourself blatantly redundant."

Scott glared fiercely while grimacing at his counterpart.

"Blatantly redundant? Careful you don't choke on those big words wolf. What with the cigar and everything, I'm surprised it was even audible."

"Fuck you Scooter"

"Guys"

Jean stepped between the dangerous duo before things turned physical….again. It was easy to lose control once arguments ignited out of thin air; at least in Scott and Logan's case it was.

"Tell your boyfriend to quit acting like a cream puff Jeannie. His panties are showing"

Scott glared again.

"Gentlemen, may we act like gentleman please" Hank took his turn this time as the group rounded the corner to another long hallway, leading to the hangar. "Clearly the professor has called us down here for something important, it would be best if we're civil and attentative when we arrive"

"Sure, whatever Hank"

"And Logan, the cigar"

Wolverine offered Hank one of his best raised eyebrows before sighing in defeat. It was obvious his smoking didn't go unnoticed around this place and it was even more obvious that every time he lit up, someone would round the corner and force him to put it out. There was just no winning for the Wolverine.

Taking one final huff, he removed the cigar and set third-degree burns to his left palm, before storing the cigar in his pocket for later.

"Fuckin' babies" he grumbled.

It was then that finally, Xavier's beloved X-men arrived the hangar, and the double doors slid open quickly revealing their presence to not only Xavier, but a group of visitors surrounding him in the center of the vast room.

It took all but two seconds for Xavier to open his mouth to allow a greeting and an explanation yet instead have the reactions of his X-men speak for him.

Not quite having the cigar in his pocket just yet, Logan dropped it silently to the floor, and his claws flew out in fury when he saw, no, smelled, who was standing in the room. At the mansion, in the middle of the hangar, behind the professors' chair.

_Creed._

"Logan don't!"

Jean read his reaction before he could and he lunged, ready to attack, only to feel the familiar freeze of heavy adamantium metal, pausing in its tracks.

"Jeannie! Let me fuckin'—"

"It's not me….." she said breathlessly.

Her reaction was just as distilled as Ororo's. Just as stunned as Scott's, just and angry as Logan's and just and befuddled as Hank's. It wasn't her that was holding Logan back, it was—

"Eric!"

Magneto smirked from Xavier's side, with his whole motley crew behind him.

"Hello Logan. So we finally meet again?"

XXXXX

"What the hell is the meaning of this?! Put me down now or I swear to God I'll—"

"You'll do what?" Eric, squeezed his hold a bit tighter on the mighty beast, causing him to growl with fury.

"Chuck!" he roared. "Put me down so I can gut him!"

"Logan," The Professor began. He had expected a reaction like this but calming the Wolverine down, well, that was an entirely different matter.

"Put me down!" Logan ordered.

"Logan, Eric will set you down but you have to promise me you'll remain calm"

"I aint promisin' you shit Chuck. Put me down so I can kill Creed and every other worthless shit in this room. What the hell is going on here?"

"Professor—"Scott began. He too was a little hesitant about the surprise that lay behind the double doors and his hands were place cautiously on his glasses. This was not your average meeting. "While I don't agree with Logan's hostile language, I think we're all on the same page here, what's going on?"

From the back of the brotherhood cluster, Spike nudged John. "He kinda looks like he's trying to do a mission Impossible thing, suspended in the air and all." He laughed and John snickered. Unfortunately for those two, the Wolverine's sensitive ears picked that up.

"The hell did you just say?!"

"Logan please" the professor begged. "We're wasting time. You're the only one holding us back here you know?"

The Wolverine seemed to consider this for a moment. Brazen as he was, his pride wouldn't allow him to be responsible for the groups' setback. Scott would never let him live it down.

Raising an eyebrow and turning his attention to the professor, his eyes said everything his mouth wouldn't the professor nodded, turning to Eric and giving him the ok before the big bad Wolverine was finally released.

He dropped quickly to his feet and glared daggers at both Creed at the Professor before fixating his jacket, ever-so-manly, and reassuming his position with the X-men.

A moment of silence fell amongst everyone before the weather goddess, decided to intervene and asked what everyone seemed so cautions to say.

"Ok, what is this all about?...I…uh…professor, should we be worried?"

"No, not at all Ororo, I would never put you in harms' way"

A waft of silence fell over the group.

"Ah, let me rephrase that," The professor heaved a long sigh. "Listen, I understand what this looks like, the Brotherhood is after all on our school grounds…"

"In our hangar…"Scott mumbled.

"Right," the professor picked up. "But, if each of you can recall the vow you all took, before you became X-men. The one in-fact, hanging over your very heads."

The group looked up to see the school logo, scripted in fancy cursive over the double doors in which they entered.

"_No mutant left behind_"

Ororo, Jean, and Hank seemed to sigh with a heavy heart, while Scott and Logan were more resilient.

"Yeah but professor," Scott began. "This is different. They're…"

"Criminals?" Mystique finished for him.

"In short," he agreed. "Yes"

"And the fuck do you need our help for anyway blue?" Logan cut in. "I thought you all were all about the pack? Thrill of the hunt, herding to your own kind and all that bullshit."

"My daughter has been injured," Magneto finally spoke up. He was tired, exhausted, from staying up all day and all night now, worrying about Scarlett. And it pained him greatly, more so than his retreat to Xavier's, to admit that he allowed it to happen. He had been choked up all night, and had just now found it within himself to pull it together. "Charles has offered her the medical services of Dr. Grey and Dr. McCoy and thus, here we stand."

Scott looked to Jean, and Ororo to Hank, betrayed almost that they didn't say something sooner. Jean placed a hand to Scott's chest and Hank offered a sympathetic look to Ororo.

"Scott honey," Jean began. "She was beat up pretty bad. We pulled a bullet from her abdomen and patched up another flesh wound on her hip"

"And," Hank offered up. "It seemed like they used some sort of metal ball and chain to do some damage to her legs. I've never seen anything like this before used as a weapon since the medieval days. It could, at best, give us some intel on what the feds are up to when we're not looking."

Ororo sighed again and patted the beast's chest. Once for reassurance that this _was _a good decision, and once to tell him he's done a good job.

"How long does she stay?" The weather goddess asked the professor.

"Until she's well," he responded. "She's stable now, but she's lost quite a bit of blood. If she doesn't bounce back soon she may need a donor"

Magneto immediately looked to his son who grimaced.

"Alright well, the brat is one person." Logan started again. "What's the excuse for the rest of these band of losers?"

"We're the brotherhood," John, who has since been quiet, decided it was his turn to speak. "We stick together"

Tension rose in the air like steam fighting out a boiling kettle. The Wolverine stared down the boy, and his knuckles clenched, while Scott's jaw tightened and Ororo looked ready to give the pyro-maniac a good slap.

"Look," Mystique said, stepping in to save the ungrateful rat before he was skinned. "You may not want us here, but we definitely don't want to be here. But Scarlett's one of our own and we've got nowhere else to bring her but to this bunny hugging shit-hole alright—"

"Raven" Magneto warned. He really despised that language. But the Mystique was on a role.

"So before we go any further into this pointless bullshit about what we're all about, why don't you just patch her up, so we can get the hell out of here?"

"I've never agreed with you more." Logan shot at her.

Jean, now in line to be the voice of reason sighed. "Guys….I don't really know how soon that'll be."

"What do you mean?" Scott asked.

"'Well, the abdomen is a very intensive spot to get shot. The bullet nicked some vital organs, and she's still suffering from major blood loss, not to mention the round of testing we'll have to do later to make sure that she's—"

"How long Jean?" Logan interrupted impatiently.

Jean cringed. "Two weeks….maybe three."

"Three weeks?!" Scott and Logan cried simultaneously.

"Guys, I can't just stitch her up and send her back out there. The ethics of that alone are enough to revoke my medical license."

"Who gives a shit about medical licenses Red, this is the B_rotherhood_!"

"I know, I know, I know but….she needs a lot of work. And close monitoring, and follow up exams…"

"I don't believe this bullshit" Logan huffed, and kicked the wall nearby him.

"Logan,"

"No! You're gonna patch her up and then what? Wait around until she goes for your jugular on a routine checkup?"

From his spot next to his father Silver scoffed. "Oh please"

"What'd you say worm?" The Wolverine challenged.

Silver challenged him back with a stare of his own. "I said…oh, puh-lease" he reiterated slowly. "When's the last time you've seen Scarlett on the battle field?"

If they had to ponder it for a moment, the X-men were surprised to recall that they hadn't exactly remembered a time when they've seen the raven girl in face to face combat with them…ever. Not that they'd admit it out loud but their silence was all the answer Pietro needed.

"Exactly. She's as whole-loving as you dumb freaks. Scarlett's an embarrassment to this crew and certainly an embarrassment to the Lenshurr/Maximoff name. I vote we dump her here and split dad. This is where she belongs anyway."

Magneto clenched his fist, and the metal began rattling in the hangar. Again Pietro was able to touch that Achilles heel.

"I _am not_, leaving her Pietro."

"Well fine, then stay. But I refuse to be cooped up in a catch with cripple miss and these band of do-gooders. I'm out. Any other takers?"

The brotherhood, silent for a moment, considered the options that stood before them. Magneto, their fearless leader had lead them to their arch nemesis; the very plight against their own cause. Of course with good reason, he needed to seek medical attention for his daughter and seek it quick but, what did that mean for the rest of them? Where would they go?

John was the first to take sides with Silver…and probably the last. The rest looked hesitant to leave their leader.

Quiet the entire time, James finally stood forward and spoke up. "Look I know you hate us," he addressed the X-men. "But, if you've got a roof we can use for the night, I'm in." he took his girlfriends' hand in his own and Calisto leaned into him. "We can't afford to hike for hours on end anymore," he rested a hand on her belly and she shooed it away, but not before going noticed by Jean.

The Juggernaut, lifting his helmet from his head, tucked it under his arm and stood next to Magneto. "You've been there for me in my time of need." He said. "And now I'll be here for you in yours. Even if it means…staying here" he grimaced. "Until Scarlett gets better"

Pietro rolled his eyes. "This is such bullshit. Spike?" he called out to the weary teenager, who looked like he was fighting both sides. "You coming man?"

Spike looked back and forth between the Brotherhood and the X-men, fighting nervously to choose a side. All eyes were on him and he puffed anxiously while he struggled to keep the spikes from flaring out his skin. He knew the _right_ thing to do but he also knew what he wanted to do too.

"I…I uh…" he stumbled while Goosebumps raised high on his skin.

"Spike man!" Pietro rushed impatiently.

"Let me make this easy for you Mr. Elliot," Magneto began, tired with his son's resistance and his determination to erect a mini-brotherhood of his own. "If your intentions are to remain with my son, than you and Mr. Allerdyce can turn right around and ask Ms. Gray where you will be bunking for the night because _you_," Magneto turned around to face a fuming Pietro. "Aren't going anywhere. Scarlett is your twin sister and if you could take a moment from yourself to shut your ignorant mouth and act like you shared a womb with her, you'd know that even if I have to tie you to the medical chair myself, you're _going_ to be her blood donor. Is that in anyway unclear?"

Pietro looked like was about to spit in his father's face.

"Fuck you old man," he said, before taking off.

If only he weren't so predictable, he'd know that Callisto would be right after him, getting ahead and blocking his only exit with a smirk.

"Going somewhere?" she asked triumphantly. She was glad that even though she was three months pregnant, she was still faster than he was.

Pietro frowned at her, prepared to take her down, but he was aware of her delicate condition. Not even he was that much of an asshole.

"Move it 'Lis. I'm not afraid to tell the whole world about your…" he motioned to her belly and she glared.

"You—"

"C'mon hot head, simmer down," came multiples' voice. Who interjected by locking Pietro's arms behind his back and using clones of himself to drag the speed demon back inside.

Irritated, Pietro struggled to get free, seizing an opportunity he had when one of Multiple's hands slipped. He pulled an arm free and socked him in the face, before turning and flipping over his shoulder and kicking him in the back.

Multiple hollered out in surprise and his clones fused back into his body. He hadn't expected to be attacked and he glared hard at his opponent who was looking for his next exit.

"Jesus Christ," Creed said, silent this entire time but having just about enough of this entire exchange as Magneto was. "Here, watch her." He said to the Juggernaut, nudging his silent fiancé in his direction before putting himself in the way of Maximoff's next route.

As expected, he sped by, but unexpectedly, Victor's extended arm and swift blow knocked the boy to his ass and out could. It was so instantaneous, one almost didn't catch it with the naked eye but unfortunately for Pietro, the Juggernaut did catch it, and he burst out in laughter.

Victor looked down at him disgustedly and rolled his dislocated shoulder back into place. The force of the blow at such a high speed didn't come without a physical consequence but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle.

"Little shit," he grimaced and Magneto sighed. Cain was still laughing.

"Did you see—?" He laughed, holding his sides. "Did you see….did you see 'im flip over?" It was hard for him to get a word out when he was gripped with the hilarity. "E' was like, one of thm', old circus clowns n' England." He laughed again, wiping the tears from his eyes, while Mystique chuckled, trying to keep her composure and Callisto let out a giggle. Neither of them ever thought they heard Cain laugh so hard. He was one for dry British humor (something they couldn't quite understand) but never was he brought to tears.

"Oh bullocks, that was a good one," he said, finally regaining his composure. Putting on his helmet and picking the boy up, Cain slung him over his shoulder like he was a dish cloth, not a human being. Finally he turned his attention to Jean.

"Ma'am?" he asked.

Jean snapped out of her stunned silence. All the X-men were. Did that really just happen?

"Where would you like 'im?"

"I uuh….ummm, med bay please." She said, and began leading the way for Cain to follow.

"Storm?"

Ororo snapped out of her stunned silence as well. "Yes professor?"

"Can you take the rest of Eric's colleagues to the spare wing please? Show them where they'll be sleeping?"

"I uhhh…sure." She said. She didn't know what else to say. This entire morning had been a whirlwind.

Hank stood protectively in front of his girlfriend. "I'll go with you Storm," he said.

Mystique scoffed. "Ah I see, blue isn't your color anymore huh?" she smirked slyly.

Something fierce growled deep inside of the beast and his fur began to stand on end. Ororo stepped back and looked at her boyfriend before patting him gently on the chest. Obviously there was a history she didn't know about there.

"No it's ok hun," she said. "I'll be fine. Logan will come with me."

Scott watched as Logan and Creed stared one another down. They hadn't stopped since Logan entered the hangar, even when he was yelling at Magneto, his eyes were on Creed.

"Uhhhh, maybe that's not such a good idea Storm," Scott replied. "I'll go with you."

"Good call puff," Logan said, still grid locked in a staring contest with Victor.

Scott didn't know what it was but if he thought he and Logan didn't get along, Victor and Logan _certainly_ didn't get along. Those two, truly were cats and dogs…in the most literal of ways.

Victor bared his fangs and Logan snarled.

"Gentlemen please," the professor interjected. He could feel the tension rising like a high tide. "Eric, please, take a moment to allow you and your colleagues to rest for a few hours and then I'd like to see you all at 4 pm sharp, so we can go over some ground rules."

"Think you can make it that long?" the Wolverine snarled to no one in particular.

"Without batting an eye my metal friend," Magneto answered for all of them, pushing the Wolverine back a few steps just for fun.

Steam blew out of Logan's nose and ears while the Brotherhood followed Storm and Scott out.

When they were gone and it was just, Hank, Logan and the professor left in the room, and Logan turned to face the professor, a ludicrous look on his face.

"Chuck,what, the fuck,have you done?" he spelled out.

Charles Xavier sighed. "Remained faithful to a code of ethics I've long fought for and won't begin to abandon now," he answered, motioning to the sign above the door.

_No mutant left behind_.

Logan grimaced and kicked the wall, rather hard, causing the sign to loose balance and tumble to the floor.

"Stupid piece of shit," he grumbled, stalking out the hanger while furiously plugging his cigar to his lips and lighting it.

Hank sighed for the professor this time.

"Dayyyy one"

XXXXX

"Bobby! No!"

"Ohhh! A fight! A fight everyone!"

"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"

It had been less than 10 minutes and already bloodshed had begun.

To the professor's error, he had neglected to mention to the juniors about the Brotherhoods stay (he had honestly hoped to fill them in during his later debriefing with said Brotherhood) and since Storm had shown the clan to their appropriate rooms and left to gain her sanity, she wasn't monitoring an anxious John who didn't feel like being locked up in a room and decided to explore the mansion to see how it has 'changed.'

And since no one warned John that Bobby was still bitter about their feud at Alcatraz, an unsuspecting Pyro, quite literally walked into the line of fire, when he crossed Bobby's path and was pelted with an ice ball to the face.

And the rest was history.

"Fight, fight, fight, fight!" the students chanted while the boys went at it, crashing anything in the rec-room that was in their way.

"Bobby!" Kitty pleaded from the side-lines, "Bobby please stop!" Her cries fell on deaf ears while the ice man decked John across the face, before ramming him full force into a wall.

John plunged to fists down hard on Bobby's back and Bobby hollered as he hit the floor. John then kicked him in the face and Bobby pulled at his free leg, hauling him to the floor too.

"Oooooooo!" the crowd went wild.

"Oh my God," Ororo said to herself and she slid into the rec room having heard all the commotion. "Colossus! Hank! Logan!" she called. "Somebody!"

She hurriedly entered the room, trying to get the kids out the way and Colossus was the first to respond to her call.

"Peter…" Storm begged, picking up Artie who was watching in awe and moving him out the way.

Peter's head cocked to the side, a little stunned himself at John's presence but he didn't ask questions and instead sheathed himself with his protective armor and jumped between the brawling boys.

When Bobby's fist his Peter's armored back he hissed and shook his hand, and Peter put his arms out to block his friend from any more blows from John.

John, still furious was clawing all over the Russian giant, to get another hit in.

"Get out of the way! I swear to God Bobby I'll—"

He didn't get to finish. Spike had entered next, pulling his own friend away from the fight, aided by Victor who got a strong hand on him to hold him down.

The kids fell silent now, in awe of what stood in front of them.

They weren't sure, but they were pretty certain that these were the bad guys they were warned about.

"Whoa…"Artie said while in Ororo's arms, getting a good look at _the_ actual Sabretooth, who was centimeters in front of him.

The room which was once is chaos now was still. No one moved, no one blinked, no one breathed until the others moved first. This had to be one of the professor's insane drills. Last year he decided it'd be a great idea to have armed guards (friends of his of course) invade the school so the students could practice their exit strategy. Surely this had to be the same thing.

When the silence finally got to be too much, Sabretooth decided to break it in hopes the kids would scatter.

With a wicked smile and a raised eyebrow he exhaled a, "Boo," and the kids all screamed, running wildly in different directions before scattering out of the rec-room.

Logan, Scott and professor came in at the aftermath and Storm looked up at Victor with a helpless huff.

"Thank you for that," she said, blowing hair out of her face exasperatedly. Artie was still in her arms and he was grinning a big stupid grin, not scared for a moment.

"Wowwww," he said, still in awe at the Sabretooth. "Umm, Mr. Cat-man, Logan says that you grow fur like he does on his face…is that true?"

"Artie!" Ororo scolded, pulling him to stand upright and then facing him towards to door. "That's a very rude thing to say, now go!" she shooed him out. "Go! Go!"

He laughed and scuttled out the rec room, leaving a panting John and Bobby in his wake.

"What happened here?" Scott asked. More so to Bobby than anyone else.

"He started it!" John and Bobby said simultaneously. They became enraged again at each other's accusations and made another lunge for one another but were stopped by Spike, Victor and Peter.

The Professor heaved a heavy sigh and began to rub his temples. Apparently this transition wasn't going to be as smooth as he had hoped.

"Professor?" Kitty asked breathlessly. She, Rouge, Angel and Jubilee had all been stunned to silence in the corner of the room, waiting at the very least for an explanation. Or for this bad dream to be over. "What's going on?"

The Professor took in a deep breath, giving a look of solace to his junior X-men before explaining. "I guess I should have brought you to this morning's meeting," he said aloud.

The Juniors were still confused.

"C'mon then, join me in the conference room please." He said, turning his wheelchair around. "John, you can have the pleasure of telling your friends why they won't be sleeping for the next couple hours."

John grumbled.

"Day one," he grunted to Victor.

XXXXX

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